ARTICLE
Data Center Life Cycle Management: Disk Data Security
By IES Communications, LLC | December 6, 2021
Read Time: 3 Minutes
As we have all seen, the demand for data centers has grown exponentially over the past few years. With the accelerating need for work from home (WFH) and more hybrid working solutions (HWS), as well as the continuing connected device explosion of the Internet of Things (IoT), there appears to be no end in sight.
There are important considerations when selecting a partner to help you manage the data center life cycle from beginning to end, including securing your data at the source (Disk Data Eradication).
Protecting Your Data
Your selected data center management partner should be able to provide complete life cycle management, including, as previously noted, your data center's end, e.g., data eradication services. Whether it is data storage media or disk subsystems, you need to protect your company's hard-earned reputation and trustworthiness by preventing confidential information from falling into the wrong hands.
Data eradication services should meet or exceed all Department of Defense (DOD), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and other regulatory requirements. In addition, third-party Certifications for Hard Drive Sanitization needed by you and your customers are also essential.
Hardware and Software Expertise
The partner you select should have hardware and software-based technology expertise to ensure secure eradication of all customer data and provide the detailed reporting required to meet today's industry privacy and security mandates. Further, it would be best to consider partners that offer non-invasive eradication processes to preserve the functionality of the subsystems for immediate repurpose or reuse.
Data Eradication: A Non-Invasive Process
First, no customer-owned disk drives or other equipment is removed from the premises. Before commencing any service, your selected partner should be inventorying the disks and subsystems and recording other metrics that may be required, such as IP addresses, physical location, make/model, and serial numbers of the subsystem with the customer.
Second, your selected partner should support all Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) vendor systems, including, but not limited to, Hitachi, IBM, EMC, HP, 3Par, Dell/Compellent, Oracle and Netapp.
Third, your selected partner's data eradication approach should support and service all disk types, including FC, SAS, SATA, SSD, NVME and other flash and disk technology types.
Data Eradication: Failed OEM Disks
Another consideration is how you handle failed OEM disks. Are you returning disk drives to the OEM with data on them? Are you doing on-site shredding, or are you paying for an expensive Disk Retention Program? Your selected partner should be able to provide on-site services for customers who need eradication of drives required to be returned to OEM vendors.
Data Eradication: Reporting
Additionally, your selected partner should also provide the detailed reporting required to meet today’s industry privacy and security mandates, thereby mitigating 100% exposure to legal liabilities or loss of corporate assets. A service like this covers all OEM disk types and models, including Hard Disk Drives (HDD’s), specialized FMD, Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVME), and other flash technologies.
Data Eradication: Service Frequency
This service should also be provided as part of a subscription or on a one-off basis, as needed. Pricing should be customized based on estimated drive counts and the number of site visits per year or the customer's need to meet the OEM's return-for-credit requirements.
Selecting the Right Partner
Your selected partner should understand the intricacies of Life Cycle Management and Day Two services. Whether it is operations support, asset management, logistics or data eradication, your selected partner should have the demonstrated hardware and software knowledge and expertise to manage it all.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of IES Communications. They do not necessarily represent Wesco's views.
This article was brought to you in partnership with IES Communications, LLC.
For 37 years, IES has maintained a professional, well-trained staff that collectively represents a proven track record of leading industry knowledge and expertise. As a result, IES is a nationwide trusted provider of turnkey integrated data center solutions. Our designers have over two decades of experience implementing innovative technology solutions to some of the most sophisticated and secure data centers and co-locations. In addition, our IES Disk Data Eradication Service team provides secure disk data wiping and eradication, detailed reporting and technical expertise in hardware and media data security.